Do I hear two million dollars? Apple-1 fossil goes on the block, cassettes included

1970s tech 'Picasso', two previous owners

One of only 50 working Apple-1 computers goes up for auction next month in Boston. The board is a later model than the one that fetched $815,000 in 2016.

That model was bought by Glamglow cosmetics founder Glenn Dellimore, who predicted it may have the value of a Picasso or Monet painting one day. Dellimore was prepared to pay up to $2m.

This Apple-1 was acquired from Adam Schoolsky, a friend of Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, for $3,500 in 1994 by David Larson, a former professor at Virginia Tech. Larson collects old computer kit and is a curator at the Vintage Computing Museum, home to several Apple-1 computers.

It's "the later production shop-style of this Apple-1 [that] is indicated by discrete component dates which match other known Apple-1 boards of similar vintage, assembled and sold by Apple in the fall of 1976 and early 1977," we're told.

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According to the catalogue, the item is in 8.5/10 condition and includes "the original Apple-1 board, original Apple Cassette Interface (ACI), original Apple-1 Operation Manual, two original Apple Cassette Interface manuals, a period surplus ASCII keyboard, a period Sanyo 4205 video monitor, a new period-style power supply with original Apple-1 power cable and connector, and period correct cassette interface cables".

Around 200 Apple-1 computers were produced, and Apple sold some 175. The Apple II was a different story: launched in June 1977, it went on to sell over six million units.

The auction is on 25 September and there's a glossy brochure in video form here. ®